Terminus report
Aug. 11th, 2008 11:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmagrant01I can't believe I managed to attend TWO cons this year. I doubted I'd make it to even one, considering that I have a small baby. But my wonderful husband decided to come along and hang out in the hotel room and take care of BG, and that made it possible for me to attend quite a few con events.
It wasn't the same as it used to be, of course -- no late nights (no nights at all, really), no drunken pool parties, no hanging out with people for hours on end and drabbling, drawbling or just plain talking fandom. I don't think I got my registration fee's worth, but it was still great to see friends.
I arrived with BG and DH in tow on Wednesday afternoon. I saw at least a dozen people I knew between the taxi and registration, which was awesome! I wandered around a bit, though I hadn't seen DH in two weeks and needed to spend some time with him before the con started. That night I dropped by a bag-stuffing party (for the H/D meetup) in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nqdonne's room, and there were at least 20 people there. It was a bigger group than we had for the slash meetup at Portus! I spotted fiona_fawkes (who was knitting a rainbow scarf!) and planted myself next to her for a chance to catch up. I could only stay about half an hour, but it was cool to hang out with fellow fen for a little while.
On Thursday, I ventured out to the H/D meetup with BG in tow. The group was HUGE (maybe 80 people?) with fantastic swag. I saw so many folks there, and met some for the first time too. That was the first time I sawmijan, as I'd kept missing her for 24 hours. I hesitate to list people, because I'm going to forget them, but it was great to see kriken, auntee_mame, titti, wook77, gatewaygirl, snottygrrl, acromantular, autumnlecroix, treewishes, and so many others. geoviki arrived near the end of the meetup, and it was one of the only times I saw her.
In fact, I found it really hard to meet up with people over the weekend. I know part of it was that I was going back and forth to my room a lot, but the con was spread over many floors of the hotel, and there were few areas where people could really gather and hang out. So as a result, it wasn't really possible to just walk around and run into people. There were several occasions when I headed down to see who I could run into, and saw very few people who were attending the con. I'm sure there were lots of fun things going on, but I think I missed most of them!
The welcoming feast on Thursday night was pretty good, though I could have done without the long speeches about the fake wizarding university we were all "attending". I didn't stay out too long, and was sorry I couldn't go to the awesome Mi/Fi bachelorette party. I heard a fun time was had by all!
Friday morning I tried and failed to get into several round tables. I ended up hanging out in the Room of Requirement with some folks, and then going to lunch withdramedy and rubytuesday5681. I attended two panels that afternoon, one on the legal issues involved in running HP cons (very interesting, and I learned a LOT), and the Harry/Draco panel that afternoon (run by furiosity, titti, and SaberShadowKitten), and it was awesome. I saw even more folks at and after that panel, including janicechess, novembersnow, amanuensis1, dementordelta, and bethbethbeth.
Friday night MDH and I had hired a babysitter and went out for an amazing dinner, for the first time since BG was born. I'd hoped I could possibly go out after getting BG settled for the night, but he didn't cooperate after being away from me for several hours!
Saturday morning I slept in. I went down around 10:00, but couldn't find anyone, so I went back up to my room. I had arranged to meetdarththalia for lunch, and I was waiting for her to arrive when I got a text message from hazelhawthorne. We texted back and forth a bit, and she revealed that she had decided to come to Terminus at the last minute, and that she was right around the corner from where I was sitting! There was much squeeing and smooching of BG, as you might imagine.
After lunch, I went by to see if I could get into one ofmijan's many popular roundtables. It was full, but snottygrrl was doing security at the door, and kindly let me in. :-D We talked about the future of H/D, and I left feeling inspired to write. Oh, and about halfway through a girl who couldn't have been more than 16 poked her head in and asked what this roundtable was about. Someone said "Harry/Draco" and she got a blank look on her face, and then someone else said, "Come on in!" and so she did -- with a man who was obviously her father in tow. And 25 slashers were instantly very, very good! No one mentioned surprise buttsex or anything. After a few minutes of listening to us talk about archives, they left, but it was funny to watch everyone suddenly being careful about their language.
Saturday night DH and I went out to dinner again (yay!), and I missed seeingwordplay for the few brief hours she dropped by (boo).
DH and I both needed to be home on Monday, so we left Sunday morning. I managed to find a bunch of people before we left and say goodbye, and it was sort of bittersweet. Cons have always been the highlight of my year, and it was really strange to go to one and feel like I wasn't really there. I'm glad I went and saw people, but I think I wouldn't go again with a baby in tow. It wasn't worth the cost of the trip for the amount of time I got to spend at the con, honestly. Next year it will be easier to be away from BG for longer chunks of time, and after that I may be able to leave him at home, LOL.
I hope everyone had a safe trip home, and I'll see you next summer at Azkatraz!
It wasn't the same as it used to be, of course -- no late nights (no nights at all, really), no drunken pool parties, no hanging out with people for hours on end and drabbling, drawbling or just plain talking fandom. I don't think I got my registration fee's worth, but it was still great to see friends.
I arrived with BG and DH in tow on Wednesday afternoon. I saw at least a dozen people I knew between the taxi and registration, which was awesome! I wandered around a bit, though I hadn't seen DH in two weeks and needed to spend some time with him before the con started. That night I dropped by a bag-stuffing party (for the H/D meetup) in
nqdonne's room, and there were at least 20 people there. It was a bigger group than we had for the slash meetup at Portus! I spotted fiona_fawkes (who was knitting a rainbow scarf!) and planted myself next to her for a chance to catch up. I could only stay about half an hour, but it was cool to hang out with fellow fen for a little while.On Thursday, I ventured out to the H/D meetup with BG in tow. The group was HUGE (maybe 80 people?) with fantastic swag. I saw so many folks there, and met some for the first time too. That was the first time I saw
mijan, as I'd kept missing her for 24 hours. I hesitate to list people, because I'm going to forget them, but it was great to see kriken, auntee_mame, titti, wook77, gatewaygirl, snottygrrl, acromantular, autumnlecroix, treewishes, and so many others. geoviki arrived near the end of the meetup, and it was one of the only times I saw her.In fact, I found it really hard to meet up with people over the weekend. I know part of it was that I was going back and forth to my room a lot, but the con was spread over many floors of the hotel, and there were few areas where people could really gather and hang out. So as a result, it wasn't really possible to just walk around and run into people. There were several occasions when I headed down to see who I could run into, and saw very few people who were attending the con. I'm sure there were lots of fun things going on, but I think I missed most of them!
The welcoming feast on Thursday night was pretty good, though I could have done without the long speeches about the fake wizarding university we were all "attending". I didn't stay out too long, and was sorry I couldn't go to the awesome Mi/Fi bachelorette party. I heard a fun time was had by all!
Friday morning I tried and failed to get into several round tables. I ended up hanging out in the Room of Requirement with some folks, and then going to lunch with
dramedy and rubytuesday5681. I attended two panels that afternoon, one on the legal issues involved in running HP cons (very interesting, and I learned a LOT), and the Harry/Draco panel that afternoon (run by furiosity, titti, and SaberShadowKitten), and it was awesome. I saw even more folks at and after that panel, including janicechess, novembersnow, amanuensis1, dementordelta, and bethbethbeth.Friday night MDH and I had hired a babysitter and went out for an amazing dinner, for the first time since BG was born. I'd hoped I could possibly go out after getting BG settled for the night, but he didn't cooperate after being away from me for several hours!
Saturday morning I slept in. I went down around 10:00, but couldn't find anyone, so I went back up to my room. I had arranged to meet
darththalia for lunch, and I was waiting for her to arrive when I got a text message from hazelhawthorne. We texted back and forth a bit, and she revealed that she had decided to come to Terminus at the last minute, and that she was right around the corner from where I was sitting! There was much squeeing and smooching of BG, as you might imagine. After lunch, I went by to see if I could get into one of
mijan's many popular roundtables. It was full, but snottygrrl was doing security at the door, and kindly let me in. :-D We talked about the future of H/D, and I left feeling inspired to write. Oh, and about halfway through a girl who couldn't have been more than 16 poked her head in and asked what this roundtable was about. Someone said "Harry/Draco" and she got a blank look on her face, and then someone else said, "Come on in!" and so she did -- with a man who was obviously her father in tow. And 25 slashers were instantly very, very good! No one mentioned surprise buttsex or anything. After a few minutes of listening to us talk about archives, they left, but it was funny to watch everyone suddenly being careful about their language.Saturday night DH and I went out to dinner again (yay!), and I missed seeing
wordplay for the few brief hours she dropped by (boo).DH and I both needed to be home on Monday, so we left Sunday morning. I managed to find a bunch of people before we left and say goodbye, and it was sort of bittersweet. Cons have always been the highlight of my year, and it was really strange to go to one and feel like I wasn't really there. I'm glad I went and saw people, but I think I wouldn't go again with a baby in tow. It wasn't worth the cost of the trip for the amount of time I got to spend at the con, honestly. Next year it will be easier to be away from BG for longer chunks of time, and after that I may be able to leave him at home, LOL.
I hope everyone had a safe trip home, and I'll see you next summer at Azkatraz!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:28 am (UTC)I wish I'd been able to spend more time with you - I seriously don't think I stopped from the moment I arrived in Chicago to the moment I left. Still, I'm so glad I got to see you (and BG!), and I can't wait to see you in September. *big hugs*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:46 pm (UTC)And I'll see you again soon. :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:30 am (UTC)I think the biggest problem was based on the hotel. They were not prepared at all for the kinds of things we needed, and a lot of the staff were surly or rude because they thought we were 'freaks' or 'vampires'. I think that the room of requirement was far too out of the way, and there weren't any gathering areas. Even if we could just have a floor blocked off for ficcers/slashers/people who never sleep, or some where NOT out of the way to do drabbling/drawing/gathering.
But aside from that, all the programing I attended was pretty well done. :D
AND YOU HAVE THE CUTEST BABY. but yeah, I can see how totin' around BG might get frustrating.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:47 pm (UTC)It was great to see you again!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:31 am (UTC)(Thanks much for the post!)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:48 pm (UTC)Yes, absolutely. :-)
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:33 am (UTC)I've got something for you- here: http://perlita-negra.livejournal.com/35649.html
Happy Birthday, sweety!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:34 am (UTC)Please don't tell me that the legal panel said "no slash at hp cons". :P
Glad you had fun and the chance to go!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 12:27 pm (UTC)SO far, out of all the major (read: over 300 attendees) cons, the only one that's said No Slash and claimed that WB asked them not to allow it is the Accio con in the UK. There's been slash programming and events at every Narrate event and every HPEF event, as well as at Sectus.
I've been involved with every HPEF conference so far, and WB has never asked us to not include slash - the only type of topic they've asked us to block was pedagogical usage of the series, and they haven't reiterated that request since 2003 or 2004.
And given Dumbledore, it would be insane for them to try to bar it at this point, anyway.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:47 am (UTC)Hey Emma! Happy Birthday!
I hope that on this special day, you are with all the persons that you love and that you will have a very very happy day!xD And of course to receive many gifts!XDD
Kisses!
Meli
Español
¡Feliz Cumpleaños!
Espero que en este dÃa especial, estés con toda la gente que quieras y tengas un muy muy feliz dÃa! xD y por supuesto, recibir muchos regalos! XDD
Besos!
Meli
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 05:50 am (UTC)<3!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 06:09 am (UTC)I'm looking at it as practice for when they go off to college.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 06:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 06:53 am (UTC)and Happy Birthday
*bounce bounce*
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 09:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 12:59 pm (UTC)HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 02:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 02:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:54 pm (UTC)Good to see you!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 06:10 pm (UTC)It was great to see you, even if only briefly. BG was quite possibly the cutest thing ever. ;)
I agree with the issue of gathering space - hopefully you're in a position to act on that knowledge for Azkatraz! (I'll also second the request for full-floor or other geographic grouping.) As a SF local, please feel free to add me to the list of people to hit up for Azkatraz organization/logistics help!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 11:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 01:18 am (UTC)And Happy Birthday! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 12:24 pm (UTC)Who knows, maybe October. :p
Happy Birthday!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-14 04:16 pm (UTC)